Summer Coneflower

Hi there!

I simply LOVE this Aall & Create “Roadway Vistas” die set and have been playing around with mixed media on the main panel.

First of all, I glued on some old paper snippets, then dry brushed over them with white gesso. Next I brushed on various Distress Inks, followed by scraping modelling paste through a dotty stencil. I added more ink once the modelling paste was dry. Flicked some watered down orange and buff titanium acrylic paint splatters on.

Then it was a question of deciding how to embellish the lumpy, bumpy surface! So I found some printed PaperArtsy tissue paper and wetted round the edge of some text, pulled it out of the sheet and glued to the panel. I stamped, coloured and cut out the PaperArtsy coneflower so I could glue it on. Finally I added a little shading and grounded the flower. Added the whole thing to a 5” x 7” Kraft card.

5x7 sized Kraft card

Details:

• Aall & Create “Roadway Vistas” die set
• PaperArtsy tissue paper
• PaperArtsy “Coneflowers Edition” stamp set EAB49 
• Distress Inks; Inktense pencils; modelling paste through dotty stencil; Sakura Brush pen to ground flower with; shading done with a Stabilo All pencil and a water brush.
• Snippet strips of paper used as a first layer on the substrate - although you can barely see them unless you look up close at the panel IRL!!!

Taking this card over to the WE LOVE STAMPING July Challenge where the theme is SUMMERTIME. As coneflowers are summer flowers, it fits the bill.

An abstract design . . .

Hi there!

I saw some abstract cards on Pinterest, so I decided to have a go at making a card with an abstract design while I was crafting at a friend's house. 

I masked off the edges of a piece of watercolour paper, then used Distress Inks, a stencil and some stamping. 

The circles at the left hand side are by Crafty Roo, but the crosses and numbers belong to my friend . . . so I don't have their details, although they may well be from one of the Studio Light grunge sets! 

I mounted the watercolour paper to the card front of a custom-made base card measuring 4.5" x 4.5".

The Imagine Tree

Hi there dear Reader!

Today, I have a one layer card to share with you, featuring only stamping and stencilling on the card front. 

The stencilling means I can join in with Donna’s theme at the current ALLSORTS CHALLENGE #853 where you can win more stencils to play with if you’re lucky. 

5” x 4” card

Materials:

• Numbers at left hand edge by Visible Image, from the You’re A Classic stamp set
• Tree by Stampin; Up - from Hopeful Thoughts stamp set
• Imagine word by PaperArtsy from the Coneflowers Edition Eclectica stamp set EAB49
• Grass stamp by Hobby Art from the Bee Kind set
• Dotty circles stencil from a magazine cover gift, stencilled with Distress Inks in Wild Honey, Peacock Feathers and Shabby Shutters.

Garden Faerie

Hi there!

I took advantage of the ALLSORTS birthday discount (last month), and treated myself to a couple of AALL & Create dies. This one is Roadway Vistas Set #78. 

Here's the first thing I made with it . . . but no doubt there will be lots more as it's a pretty versatile die set. 

MATERIALS:

• AALL & Create Roadway Vistas die used for the frame and centre panel.
• IndigoBlu Garden Faerie stamped onto copy paper, fussy cut and stuck onto the main panel. Extra stamping and cutting for a second pair of wings. The wings have Wink of Stella painted on.
• Distress Oxides: Shabby Shutters; Iced Spruce and Peacock Feathers for all inking and stencilling of the background.
• Derwent Inktense pencils used to colour the faerie. 
• Versafine Onyx Black used with the circles stamps from Funky Fossil's Tall Grass stamp set. Sprinkled with clear EP and heat set. 

I was undecided whether to add a cardboard stand to the back of this, or mount it onto a card front. In the end, I chose the card option - see below. I added some more bubbles to the card to coordinate!

As the focal stamp is called "Garden Faerie" - I thought I'd enter the current ALLSORTS CHALLENGE #851 where Brenda has chosen the theme of ANYTHING FROM THE GARDEN. Brenda has fairies playing at the bottom of her wonderful garden . . . so am hoping this will comply with the theme . . . but if that’s stretching things too far, it can always be entered under the Anything Goes option.

Delighted to have been a Top 7 Pick with this fairy card over at Allsorts:

Sunday Snippets - A Butterfly Card

Hi Playmates!

There's a new challenge to play along with over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND hosted by Miss Di for the next fortnight.

Here's my homework:

A6 sized card

I've only used ONE snippet on this card (the butterfly), but I hope you'll agree it has IMPACT!

Details:

• Concord & 9th Butterfly (snippet from an art journal page I discarded)
• Funky Fossil - Geometric Flowers stencil (green ink)
• Tim Holtz THMM123 grungy letters stamp (grey ink)
• SU Gorgeous Grunge splatter stamp (purple ink)

Sunday Snippets - Rabbit is back!

Hi Playmates!

I had lots of fun creating this snippets card which showcases one of the items available in the prize package for Challenge #531 over at The Snippets Playground for the next fortnight.  

A6 sized card

The leftover snippets

Materials:

• Heffy Doodle Stitched Rectangle dies
• Unbranded brick wall, small flower dies from Temu
• Rabbit die available from Amazon
• White snippets (rabbit, flowers and panel), plus cardboard packaging for brick wall and matting
• Homemade cloud stencil for the sky. PaperArtsy PS107 Stencil for the flowers on the ground
• Distress Inks for background
• Coloured pencils for rabbit and flowers

Come and join in the fun over at the Snippets Playground  - all you have to do is make something with your snippets, enter using Mr Linky and leave a comment saying if you're playing for the prize or not. 

Delicate Wings ATC

I have a little butterfly ATC to share with you today. This means I can join in with one of my favourite challenges TAG-ALONG (& ATCs) - where the theme for this month is BLOSSOMS, BUTTERFLIES & BIRDS (you can choose any, or all, of those to put on your tag, ATC or bookmark). 

There's a lovely prize on offer if you join in.  

ATC

Materials:

• Butterfly - one of two featured on Aall & Create stamp set #826 "Delicate Wings". 
• The butterfly was stamped with VFC Onyx Black ink and heat embossed with clear EP. Coloured with SU Wisteria Wonder ink & a waterbrush.
• Memory Box "Zippy Dots" stencil brushed with SU Island Indigo ink.

Mini Moo Cards

Hi there!

I had not heard of Mini Moo cards until I ventured over to see what The Little Things Challenge was all about. 

In the Permitted Projects section of The Little Things Challenge, Mini Moo cards are said to measure 28mm x 70mm (1.1” x 2.75”) and were originally tiny business cards . . . but crafters have adopted them!

SO . . . I went ahead and made one, using up a few smaller snippets in the process.

My first Mini Moo card

Materials:

• White snippet of card measuring 28mm x 70mm
• Striped Washi tape by Funky Fossil.
• Unbranded flower die from Amazon, coloured with a pink Posca pen and Shabby Shutters DI.
• Grungy “flourish” word from the Spread A Little Happiness set (#628) by Aall & Create

I had so much fun making the first Mini Moo that pretty soon there were THREE!!! 

Are you wondering what I will do with such tiny things? Well, as I'm primarily a card maker, I mounted the original panel onto card snippets and glued them to card fronts . . . wanna see?

Here you go:

The Mini Moos were mounted onto card snippets and
added A6-sized cards. Sorry about the bad lighting -
taken in the evening under artificial light.

They could also be used as small tags if you punched a hole in the top and added twine; or put into the pockets of your junk journal, or even a teeny tiny bookmark!

Sunday Snippets - Dragonfly Tag

Hi Playmates!

There's a new challenge to play along with over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND hosted by Miss Di for the next fortnight.

For my homework I made a tag using a die set I was delighted to win at the Tag Along & ATC Challenge recently.

The finished tag

Below is a photo of the inner piece of the tag before I mounted it onto the outer piece and added the dragonfly and sentiment. 

Believe it or not, the inner piece was WHITE before I brushed it with three different Distress Oxide inks, added some stencilling; some white modelling paste (which turned a bit green as I was too impatient to wait for the inks to dry) and some white splatters (using watered down white acrylic paint). 

Then it was just a case of stamping and die-cutting the dragonfly and colouring it with Posca pens. I used the same Posca pens to colour a few of the modelling paste squares and added some dots. Then I glued everything together, punched a hole and added the twine before stamping and distressing the edges of the sentiment and glueing it in place. The sentiment IS on straight - it’s the modelling paste squares that are a bit wonky!

MATERIALS:

• DIES: “Taggletastic" tag die set #30 by Aall & Create (white snippet used for inner piece); 
• “Dragonfly” stamp and die set by Hazel Eaton for Studio Light (part of a Dragonfly Dreams suite) (stamped onto a white snippet).
• STENCILS: Funky Fossil “Grid” stencil (with modelling paste scraped through it); “Geometric Floral” stencil by Funky Fossil and “Flower Power #8” stencil by Uniko, both brushed with darker green Distress Oxide ink.
• SENTIMENT from the "Tall Grass" set by Funky Fossil (stamped onto a snippet of SU Tip Top Taupe card leftover from cutting the outer tag.)
• Posca pens and Distress Oxide inks for all COLOURING.

I would like to enter this tag into the following challenges:

1. ALLSORTS CHALLENGE #845 under the theme of Things With Wings;
2. WE LOVE STAMPING March Challenge under Wildlife theme/Anything Goes
3. TAG ALONG & ATCs March Challenge under Anything Goes

Sunday Snippets - Energised

Hi Playmates!

Di has published RESULTS from the previous challenge, so please hop over to the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND to admire her top picks and discover which lucky playmate won the prize. There's still nearly a week left to play in the current challenge if you haven't already done so.

This ATC came about when I was about to discard the “stamp-off sheet” that I was using to clean off excess ink from stamps before cleaning them properly. I decided I really liked how parts of the sheet looked, so I cut a portion of it out to use as homemade patterned paper for an ATC.

ATC

A white snippet I die cut the flowers & sentiment from.

The “stamp-off” scrap sheet I cut the background from.
I made 2 ATCs from the sheet, but messed up the other one so it got binned!

I would like to enter this ATC into the March TAG ALONG, BOOKMARKS & ATCs CHALLENGE where the theme is SPRING FLOWERS, but as the flowers on this ATC are abstract, I'm entering under the Anything Goes option. 

Details:

• Scrap paper used to stamp off excess ink prior to cleaning stamps.
• Snippets of white card for the ATC base, the die-cut flowers and the sentiment.
• Abstract flower dies by Simply Graphic.
• “Energised” word from the Nature's Gatherings (Set 1) by That's Crafty.

Sunday Snippets - Happy Bird Day!

Hi Playmates!

I'm hosting a new challenge over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND for the next fortnight. Why not use up some of your snippets, then come over to the Playground for a 'show and tell' via Mr Linky?

For my homework, I made a card from some of the snippets I recently pulled out to play with (see HERE and HERE) and was still busy using up on the card below:

5" square card base.

Snippets I have been busy using up!

Hope to see you up in the Snippets Playground Treehouse for a hot chocolate and a natter. I've smuggled in a few bars of chocolate to share. It's OK - we can burn off the calories when we run around playing play Tag later!

February Rudolph Day - Christmas Gonk

Hi there!

It's "Rudolph Day” for us crafters, so I'm sharing one of the festive cards I made earlier this year, ready for the coming December! 

 A6 sized card

Materials:

• Torn paper masks for snow drifts.
• Gonk by unknown make
• PaperArtsy snowflake stencil
• Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide ink, plus SU Night of Navy ink for the sentiment.
• Creative Expressions snow stencil
• Posca Pens scribbled onto a non-stick sheet and picked up with a waterbrush to colour the gonk.
• White snippet used to stamp the gonk on. It was then coloured, cut out and glued to the card front. 

You've got mail!

Hi there!

I made another little ATC so I could make a final entry into the current TAG ALONG & ATCs CHALLENGE for February - which ends in 5 days time, so get your skates on if you want to play along!

ATC

As the ATC hasn't got any numbers on it, I'll be entering under the Anything Goes option. Great prize on offer. 

Details:

• White snippet of card trimmed to 2.5" x 3.5" with a corner rounder punch used on opposite corners.
• Stencilled the background with AALL & CREATE's Florastella stencil. 
• Tore a gelli print snippet and glued it to the ATC front in opposite corners, then added an unknown script stamp (possibly by IndigoBlu) over the top.
• Die-cut the bundle of envelopes from white card and carefully coloured in the envelopes at the back of the bundle, along with the ribbon. The unbranded envelope die was a gift so I don't have the details, although it was possibly from Amazon or Temu. 

Magic Hare ATC

Hi there!

I have a little ATC to share with you today - created with Lavinia stamps and a dotty circle stencil.

ATC

ATC Details:

• Lavinia stamps: Slender Mushrooms (Mini); Wild Hares (Large); Stars 2 (Mini); retired foliage stamp; the word "Magic" was masked off and stamped from a much larger Lavinia sentiment.
• Background stencil: magazine cover gift from ages ago.
• Snippets of white card for the stamped panel, and navy card for the ATC base.

Playing along with the TAG ALONG & ATCs FEBRUARY CHALLENGE where the optional theme is NUMBERS, but I'm entering under 'anything goes' as my ATC is sans numbers! There is a brilliant prize available to one lucky winner, so why not play along?

New Home Card

I needed a new home card to add to my 'ready made' box, so I set about making one!

I created my own background, which complies with the current theme over at the Allsorts Challenge. So I am nipping over to ALLSORTS to enter their current Challenge 842. 

Custom made card measuring 4.5" x 6 3/4"

Details:

• Lavinia Stamps: Freya's House; Slender Mushrooms Mini; Vine; Woodland Hares; Fairy Forager.
• Other stamps: Hobby Art line of grass stamp from Bee Kind set; Woodware New Home sentiment.
• Dotty circle stencil - magazine cover gift from yonks ago.
• Custom made card blank.

Feather ATC

Here's a little ATC that I'll be entering into the February TAG ALONG & ATCs CHALLENGE where the theme is to ADD A NUMBER (or anything goes). 

In this case, I added several numbers with background stencilling and stamping!

ATC

Details:

• Stencilled background numbers created with whatever ink was left on my brushes, brushed through the Heffy Doodle "Numicon" stencil.
• Small line of numbers from an unknown stamp set.
• Large, grungy "6" stamp by Studio Light' Artists Atelier Grunge Set 32: "Feather".
• Feather stamp = magazine cover gift. (Stamped direct onto the ATC and again onto a white snippet, cut out and glued over the top.)
• Stamped & stencilled panel then glued onto a white snippet, cut to correct ATC size of 3.5" x 2.5".

Allsorts - Challenge #842

Hi there!

I've made a sympathy card from snippets that were glued over the top of a stamped and stencilled background. 

I would like to enter this card into the current ALLSORTS CHALLENGE #842 where creating your own background is the optional theme, or there's always Anything Goes.

A6 sized card - tent fold

The stamped and stencilled background
before I added the snippets.

The snippets I pulled out to play with.

There's some gorgeously grungy AALL & CREATE stamps to be won at Allsorts, so why not hop over and join in? And if you use up some of your snippets, you can come and play at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND.

Details:

• Background created with Studio Light BJ04 stencil by Jolanda de Ronde and a splatter stamp from the Gorgeous Grunge set by SU, using SU Sahara Sand and Chocolate Chip inks.
• Snippets: the leafy strip is from That's Crafty Nature's Gatherings 1 stamp set; sentiment is by Uniko and the black heart is from a Crafts Too "Miss P Loves Boundless Journal Locking Tag set.

January Rudolph Day - Christmas Penguin

Hi there!

Okay, so Rudolph Day was yesterday . . . but you have until the end of the month to join in with the challenge HERE.

On this card, I used a torn piece of paper with a blender brush and light blue ink to create the snowscape. Then I brushed the same blue ink through a few stencils. The penguin is a snippet that I coloured and cut out a little while back, and the "Christmas" word and "25th" stamps are from a new stamp set I acquired from Hobby Art, who recently stopped trading. As a final touch I added Washi tape to the left hand edge. 

C6 sized card

MATERIALS:

• Funky Fossil Washi Tape at the left hand edge.
• "Christmas" word and "25th" by Hobby Art from their "Christmas Post" stamp set. I coloured the sentiment in with blue Tombow marker pens.
• Geometric Flowers stencil by Funky Fossil and an unknown make for the swirly stencil.
• Torn paper used as a mask to create the snowscape with light blue ink and a brush.
• AALL & Create Penguin from set #604, stamped onto a white SNIPPET and coloured in with watercolour pencils. The penguin was cut out and glued to the card front.

Doodling with torn paper snippets . . .

Hi there!

Something VERY quirky from me today!

I saw something on Pinterest which showed tiny bits of brown paper with doodling around their shape. This piqued my interest, so - I thought I’d have a go myself! I would link to the Pinterest post, but I can’t find it anywhere now, despite searching!

Here’s the final results, made into cards:

The process I used was to find a few brown paper snippets (never a problem, I have loads of brown paper snippets). Then I tore them into small pieces and stamped them randomly with the Funky Fossil “Shoot for the stars” text stamp. Once they were glued to a piece of A4 printer paper, I simply doodled around them and cut them out ready to add to cards.

Bits of stamped brown paper ready to doodle! I glued paper onto two A4 sheets,
but I’m sure you get the idea from this one.

These were the doodles that made the Final Cut - but then, I
didn’t like what I made with the “mouse” or the “toucan”, so they
got binned!

4.5" x 4.5” sized card with a stamped & stencilled background,
plus a clock that I cut out and stuck behind the doodle.

"Small Triangles” stencil by Rubber Dance; sentiment from 
Grunge Collection SL GR STAMP43 by StudioLight.
Grounding stamp by IndigoBlu. 
Custom card size 4 1/8th x 5"

PaperArtsy “mini” stamp in orange; grounding stamp
by IndigoBlu. Sentiment from the “So Weird” set by Whimsy Stamps.
Custom card size: 5” x 5.5"

It was a bit of fun, and I got a few cards out of the exercise, so I was happy!

Sunday Snippets in Red and Green

Hi Playmates!

Miss Di is in charge of the new SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND challenge for the next fortnight - and I must say the Playground is looking VERY festive. Everything has been decorated and there’s a huge Christmas tree in the Assembly Hall. 

Rehearsals for the Nativity Play are going well with all you little (ahem!) angels running amok. It’s going to be the usual mayhem with myself, Di and Dudley running around like headless chickens, but it is a lot of fun!

For my homework this week, I made a festive card with plenty of red and green on it so that I could enter the current WE LOVE STAMPING CHALLENGE using their theme.

The cream card measures 5" square

Materials:

• Background stamping = Numerous grunge stamps by Kaiserkraft, Studio Light, plus splatters fromSU’s  Gorgeous Grunge set, stamped onto a white snippet.
• Focal point stamping =The postmark stamp is from the Hobby Art Christmas Post CS068D set. I stamped it on the panel and again onto another snippet so that I could cut it out and stick it on with foam pads. I inked the postmark and panel edges with whatever orange Distress Oxide ink was left on the brush. 
• Die Cutting: Winter foliage from gel print snippets (Hidden Leaves dies by Sizzix Code 664581).
• The bird die (unbranded set from TEMU) was cut from the last remaining red snippets of card I could find.

Green gelli plate snippets & the last couple 
of red snippets I managed to squeeze the birds out of!

I also made an ATC while I had the above snippets out on my desk. Managed to cut x 2.5" x 3.5” piece out of the dark green gel print to mount the bird panel on. I stencilled the white snippet (not shown in the pic) first, adding some dark brown splatters, then stamped the sentiment before glueing the foliage and bird in place. 

ATC

I would like to enter the ATC into the DECEMBER TAG ALONG & ATC CHALLENGE where the theme is RED & GREEN (but there’s also an anything goes option).

Materials:

• Heffy Doodle “Numicon” stencil used on the white panel with light green ink.
• SU splatter stamp from “Gorgeous Grunge” used with dark brown ink.
• Crafty Roo “Happy Christmas” sentiment stamped in VFC Spruce ink.
• Dark green gel print snippet shown in the photo trimmed to 2.5” x 3.5” - used for the main panel mount.
• Green foliage die from the Hidden Leaves set by Sizzix (Code 664581) - cut from a gel print snippet.
• Red bird (unbranded die set bought from Temu) cut from red snippets of card.

Remember there are EXTRA PRIZES to be won in the December challenges at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND, so why not come over to play?